


The Shadow Rider

by sdeubanks



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dragons, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Healers, M/M, Magic, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 17:24:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14477589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sdeubanks/pseuds/sdeubanks
Summary: Keara Siroce is a High Priestess of Talin, a country on the verge of war. When her home is attack by a neighboring nation, it sets Keara on a path of vengeance, violence, and the occasional moment of normalcy that she never thought she wanted. Along with her soul bonded Dragon Jada, Keara fights for her country, her life, and her heart.





	1. Prologue

The kingdom of Talin is a moderately sized, land locked country on the Renovian continent. It boasts several mountain ranges, rich with ore and gems, as well as fertile valleys, excellent for crops. Its people are hearty and hardworking, accustomed to farming and mining. Its mountain ranges are home to Dragon Clans and their breeding grounds. The Clans are few and far between, drawn to the parts of the land rich with Old Magic. Old Magic still exists in pockets across the country, the Capital itself boasts some of the finest healers, proficient in their craft of combining magic and herbs, but in the mountains, the magic runs deeper. The people there have magic in their veins more often than not. Usually just a little, enough to make them a little more efficient at their chosen work, but occasionally a child is born with Old Magic roaring through their veins, usually marked by a striking physical appearance, and it is those times that a Soul Bond is formed. A Dragon and a human join their souls as one, able to see, hear, and feel what the other does. Dragons will have a single human companion in their lifetime. The bond between the pair will prolong the human’s life, sometimes by decades, depending on the size and bloodlines of the Dragon. Dragons exist across the continent, but for unknown reasons, the country of Talin has the largest concentration of Old Magic in its people, though it is likely from strategic marriages and births.

In the Talin mountains, the Dragons are often worshiped and revered, and the villages elect a Visoka Svećenica, a High Priestess, as the mouthpiece of the Dragons.  These women commune with the Dragons and offer flocks of livestock for protection and wisdom. The Priestesses are considered holy, even in the more modern cities. They preside over marriages, deaths, births, and hold a seat on the village’s High Council. Some Priestesses will preside over several small villages, especially in the summer months when the Dragons of the land seek their human companions.

The kingdom of Talin has well established trade routes with its four bordering neighbors.  Tulsune to the North, Merroch to the East, Scaran to the South, and Pileon to the West. For the most part, these countries are at peace with one another. Occasional border skirmishes mar their records, but no wars. None until King Florin of Tulsune came into power. King Florin who looked at Talin’s ore rich mountains and felt envy. King Florin who saw the Dragon Clan breeding grounds and felt fear. King Florin whose greed knew no bounds.

The village of Aron, in the southwestern mountain range of Talin, is small, nestled in the foothills, and greatly favored by one of the largest Dragon Clans known, the Kljove. Many humans find the size and ferocious appearance of the Kljove terrifying.  Aron and its 300 inhabitants live safe, relatively quiet lives in seclusion. Every fifty to one hundred years a new clutch of eggs are laid, and a new Priestess is chosen to train until she is ready to take up the mantle.


	2. Chapter One

A girl with wild hair and eyes so dark they seem to pull in the light around them stands atop a hill, surveying the village below. In her left hand is a staff of hearty wood, the center rapped in leather for gripping should she need to use if for defense. Her right hand absently strokes the sheepdog at her side, over and over as her dark eyes follow the village inhabitants going about their daily business. Aron is not a large community, only three hundred people, and the girl knows them all. Recognizes the tailor, the blacksmith, the farmers’ wives. She watches them all with a solemn expression and sharp mind. Catalogues their movements, their habits. It comes second nature to the child, to observe, to assess. Even as an infant, in the arms of her adoptive family she was quiet. At twelve her silence is no longer considered a problem, though it is a little unnerving to the other children. Keara is just simply Keara. She isn’t a cruel child, in fact she can be rather helpful when she wants to. No, Keara is simply a quiet soul. Her adoptive mother and father don’t take it personally and let Keara keep her silence, for which the child is grateful.

The person who cannot and will not tolerate it is Keara’s adoptive sister Brigit. Brigit is six months older with long, corn silk hair, a heart shaped face, and eyes a stunning turquoise. She is without a doubt, the leader of the pack of children growing up in Aron. Despite being a farmer’s daughter, she rules over them all like a princess, and the other children readily follow in her wake. Keara follows her too despite Brigit’s obvious distain for her. Keara can see her sister now, a gaggle of other girls around her as she does some trading for their mother. Keara feel no anger towards her sister, how could she? Brigit has the right to be angry. Keara is the trespasser in their family, an orphan taken in when a killing fever ripped through the country. She knows she is an odd child, too quiet, too honest with her words. Brigit had tried in the beginning, to be nice, to include Keara, but she had given up quickly when it was obvious Keara wasn’t interested in clothes or boys or really anything most little girls like. And so, Keara didn’t fault her, and rarely felt anything towards her sister other than indifference. Brigit could have her little village life with her adoring friends and a husband and fat children, Keara wanted more. She wanted to travel and explore, she wanted more that a little village in the mountains and a husband, she wanted a real life. Like the ones she read about in books in the village’s little schoolhouse.

At twelve Keara watches her little village, the wheels in her mind turning, trying to decide how best to achieve her goals. She doesn’t know that in the North a covetous King is preparing for war. That his decision of conquest is a catalyst for all the adventures that Keara could ever want, and even more that she doesn’t. King Florin of Tulsune will be the cause of all of Keara’s greatest triumphs and the source of her most devastating lows. But the war that he’ll bring has yet to pass, and so Keara watches her little village from atop the hill and daydreams about a day she can escape.


End file.
